Out amp; About

Tickets are priced at Rs 100 and Rs 250, and donor passes are available for Rs 500. Available Monday onward atRhythm House, Kala Ghoda.

At St Andrew8217;s, Bandra. On May 30.

Glad rags

For fashion students, the last week must have been one of sleepless nights. The B D Somani Institute of Art and Fashion Technology, SNDT and CEEPZ Institute of Fashion all have chosen this week to hold fashion shows displaying their student8217;s designs. Kicking off the student fashion week8217; was B D Somani and their show on Saturday night. The graduating student8217;s clothes were worn by the likes of Fleur Xavier, Rahul Dev, Carol Gracias, and this year8217;s Miss India-Asia Pacific Shivangi Parekh. And judging their clothes were fashion writers Anaita Shroff and Narendra Kumar as well as designers Krishna Mehta and Seema Roye. Lastt night was SNDT8217;s chance to take centrestage at a mega event at the Leela, choreographed by Hemant Trevedi. If you mised both shows, make it a point to be at the CEEPZ8217;s show which is being put together by Achla Sachdev, this Sunday.

King Khan

Thanks to Omega, Bollywood superstarShah Rukh Khan can now say that he has something in common with international supermodel Cindy Crawford. No, the both of them are not about to act in a film together. Instead, they will be marking time by working for the same company. Shah Rukh Khan has become the Indian ambassador for Omega watches. Omega, as you may remember, gave watches to Mehr Jesia and Arjun Rampal felicitating them for what no one was sure. Everyone in the audience had felt even at that time that Shah Rukh and Gauri would8217;ve have been a better choice. Well, perhaps they are making up for past mistakes. Or may be the lure of Khan8217;s superstardom was a greater pull. Arjun Rampal, who is model waiting for a film release, needs to deliver a couple of hits before he can be viewed as ambassador material.

Carbon Copies

That Bollywood is perenially short of good roles and ideas is old hat. But now they8217;re short of actors to play those parts as well. What else could explain just two actors being cast to play the same roles in threefilms in the last six years? Jackie Shroff has been doing tough cop roles for so long, the short-staffed Mumbai police are considering drafting him. And ever since Naam, Sanjay Dutt has been straightjacketed in the Qaidi No 1 roles. And if you ignore the turkey Jeene Do, the two stars have mostly been on opposite sides of the law. Tally the plots for yourself:

KHALNAYAK 1993

Subhash Ghai8217;s story peppered with the raunchy choli chartbuster about a terrorist gone astray was actually a re-telling of The Ramayana with Ravan popping up at the agnipariksha of Sita and then turning over a new leaf. Jackie8217;s no-nonsense cop character is even called Ram and Ghai continues with his penchant for trench-coats in India? and irritating cameos.

Sanjay Dutt8217;s first role as the snarling-baring convict who gets to showcase his impressive physique in jailbird togs, is something he repeated in two other films. The movie recorded a countrywide 100 per cent initial thanks toSanjay8217;s real life imprisonment. Was said to be lifted from an obscure South American film.

KARTOOS 1999

This snazzy techno-thriller released last fortnight is a clever hash of the Sylvester Stallone thriller Assassins with a dash of the Sean Connery-Nicholas Cage The Rock and 48 Hours. And you thought this was Face/Off. Blame it on the posters. Tough cop, who else, Jackie hires death row convict Sanjay Dutt to eliminate the baddies in exotic South African locales.

JUNG late 1999

Due for release later this year. Director Sanjay Gupta let slip the source when he gushed about its zara hat ke8216; originality at the mahurat last year where a fettered and cantaloupe-chested Dutt posed in jail-togs.

Andy Garcia is the cop whose son is a leukemia patient and desperately needs the bone marrow transplant that only psychotic criminal Michael Keaton can provide. So the cop chases after the fugitive, dodging bullets and trying to bring him to8230;hospital. That was last year8217;s release Desperate Measures for you. Now substitute the lead stars with Jackie Shroff and Sanjay Dutt and presto! It8217;s Jung.

Fashion biz

This is as much a corporate business as any other,quot; says Nirmal Mandoth, of Nirmal and Sarita Mandoth Fashions. And he is going about establishing it as one as well. Not for this Bangalore-based designer house the regular routes to sell their creations. With a stronghold in the export market, since the last eight years, as well as a select clientele within the country, now this label wishes to make it bigger. Also to their credit are two factories they have started from scratch, a huge staff and a daily turnover of 100-odd garments. They have also held exhibitions in the USA, Dubai and Sri Lanka, with their most recent one being the mega finale to the India Independence Celeberations in the UAE last August. Before the new millennium, they promise to sell from their own outlets all over the country.

Their latest lineis aimed at the discerning buyer, with neutral shades like beige and fabrics like French crepe, georgette, chiffon, net and Bhagalpur khadi for men.

Prices start at Rs 1,500. For enquiries, call: Rupali at 437 6819.

Streets Ahead

Saryu Ahuja, ex-editor, Indian Architect and Design, is taking to the streets again. After working for eight years on Streets, a book on character-lending nooks of India, Saryu was ready to write a proper travelogue with Dom Moraes together they have also written four Channel 4 scripts which have never seen the light of the day. A book that includes all the fictional parts that fell into her lap while researching her maiden venture. Titled The Sixth Person 8212; quot;every sixth person in the world is an Indianquot; 8212; it will take readers across the country as well as through the Indian psyche.

The Sixth Person is nowhere near a coffee table book. Which is why Saryu and Dom had a problem finding sponsors. Against all odds, the bookis nearing completion 8212; the final version will be out by August 15. quot;Both Dom and I have written alternate chapters. The same issue has been dealt from the point of view of an outsider and an Indian; a man and woman.quot; Interestingly, the book has proved the popular belief of Kerala being a model state wrong. While on one hand the book is about a sleeping Kerala and a newly-discovered Hyderabad, on the other hand it is about each of us. quot;About how all of us are disillusioned, but at the end of the day, hope that keeps us going.quot;

And a similar sort of hope accompanies her third book 8212; a yet-to-be-published novel, Sesame for the Dead will address non-architect readers. While Saryu, an architect herself, feels that her scribe has a stinted way of looking at things, with her book she hopes to reach the people like quot;Laxman8217;s laymanquot;.